Peace (2 page)

“I’m Gatian Almasia. I used to be one of the Four Horsemen. I was Death, actually.” Gatian reached out to him, but let his hand hover over Lam’s shoulder.

“Death. Right. You look different,” he muttered. “Happier than I remember you looking.”

“Anyone would look happier when they aren’t escorting souls to the gates for judgment,” Gatian muttered then he motioned to Lam. “That looks painful. Maybe we should take you inside and have a doctor look at that.”

Lam took a breath and nearly passed out. “I think it might be better to just leave me out here then bury my body where I die.”

“I’m not going to let that happen.”

A noise had both of them glancing back toward the house. Lam saw another man standing there, hand pressed against his mouth, his eyes wide with horror.

“Gatian, who is that?” the man asked as he drew closer.

Gatian straightened as he held his hand out. “Pierre, this is my friend. I need you to go inside and call Aldo. Tell him he needs to bring his medical bag.”

Pierre’s sympathetic gaze was more than Lam could handle. He let his head drop forward and closed his eyes, trying to slow his breathing. Lam tried to get his wings to materialize. If he could then he could leave.

Nothing happened. As his mind cleared a little more, he realized he couldn’t feel the heavy weight of them on his back. Of course, when he was in the human realm, he kept them hidden, but he’d always felt their presence. As he shifted, lifting one hand to try to touch his back, Gatian caught his hand.

“You don’t want to do that.” Gatian sounded as though he were the one in pain.

He met Gatian’s eyes, barely noticing that Pierre had left. “Why don’t I?”

Gatian grimaced and Lam could tell he didn’t want to answer.

“Please, Gatian. I need to know.” He hated begging anyone for help, but Gatian was the only one around.

“Your back’s sliced up, Lam. It looks like someone took a whip to you then tore your wings out.”

Christ! What happened? Why can’t I remember? Why did they take my wings?
He curled into himself, whimpering as loss hit him.

After bending, Gatian picked Lam up. As much as the pain threatened to overwhelm Lam, he fought against it. He needed to figure out what had happened and how he could fix it. He’d been an angel his entire existence. If he’d fallen—or been banished—how was he going to survive? To never spend time in the presence of his God or the beings he considered his friends? Was heaven to be denied him now?

He heard a door slide open and tilted his head to spy Pierre standing to the side as Gatian entered the house.

“You can put him in the blue guest room. I put some old sheets and towels on the bed. Aldo and Bart are on their way over.” Pierre walked behind them. “I’ll bring up some warm water, so we can clean him up a little before Aldo gets here.”

“Thank you, love.”

Lam knew Gatian was probably carrying him as gently as he could, but each step they took sent hot pokers ricocheting through him and at some point, he couldn’t fight anymore. Blackness overtook his senses.

* * * *

“This isn’t good, Gatian,” Aldo said as he examined Lam’s back. “What the hell happened to him?”

Gatian rubbed his hand over his hair. “I have an idea, but I’m not going to say. It’s his secret to tell, though judging by his condition, I’m pretty sure it’s not a secret anymore.”

Aldo ran his fingers lightly along one of the long tears in Lam’s back. “It’s like something was torn from him.”

“What do you think they took? I wouldn’t be surprised to discover they took his wings.” He met Aldo’s disgusted gaze.

“Who would do that?” Pierre slid under Gatian’s arm to wrap his around Gatian’s waist then leaned against him.

Aldo shrugged. “Lam was the only one I ever had contact with. As far as I know, none of the others would lower themselves to talk to us.”

Gatian sighed. “If he’s fallen—or has been banished—they would take his wings and strip him of all his angelic powers. He could possibly be as mortal as we are now.”

“Why would he fall? What could he have done to deserve banishment?” Aldo prepared a syringe. “I’m going to give him a sedative and see if I can stitch up the deepest of his wounds. The others will heal without help. His back will be a mess of scars eventually, but I guess that’ll be the least of his problems.”

“Pierre, why don’t you go and make some tea for all of us? Stay in the living room with Bart. Relieve him from babysitting duties. Maybe you can help him figure out how to convince Aldo it’s time to adopt.” Gatian brushed a kiss over his husband’s lips before giving him a little push toward the door. “You don’t want to watch this.”

Pierre left, and Gatian found himself the recipient of an annoyed glare from Aldo. Shrugging, Gatian grinned.

“It got him out of here, plus it’ll give them something to think about besides Lam and his injuries.” Gatian paced back and forth, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I warned Lam something like this would happen if he continued on the path he was on.”

“Why did they do this?” Aldo held up his hand to stop Gatian. “Don’t tell me it’s his secret. You know about it and, now that you’ve brought me in, I need to know if I’ll have to protect Bart.”

Gatian stopped in front of the window that overlooked the Parisian streets. “He was spending time with Daystar.”

Aldo’s gasp filled the room. “You’re kidding? How long do you think that was going on?”

Lifting his shoulder in a halfhearted shrug, Gatian said, “I don’t know. Probably far longer than any of us knew. I truly figured it out when I found Pierre. Day helped me with procuring the drugs I needed to wean Pierre off them.”

“He actually helped you? I’ve never heard of that before. Daystar stays far away from angels and Horsemen alike.” Aldo grunted, but Gatian didn’t turn to see what was wrong.

Gatian laughed harshly. “Trust me. He didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart. I’m pretty sure Lam forced him. I’m not concerned with that. How did his superiors find out? Where is Daystar now?”

Aldo hummed. Gatian shot a quick glance over his shoulder. Aldo was bent over Lam’s back, slowly piercing flesh with a needle then drawing the thread through to close the wound. Shuddering, Gatian was glad Lam was unconscious and hopefully couldn’t feel that.

“What do we do now? He’s more than welcome to stay here. I was leaving for the country tomorrow, anyway, with Pierre and the kids. I don’t want them involved in this.” Gatian stuffed his hands in his pockets. So many thoughts and questions raced through his mind, yet all he could focus on was Daystar and where the hell that particular fallen angel was at the moment.

“Of course you don’t want them involved,” Aldo agreed. “We spent centuries being the archangels’ puppets. I know there are new Horsemen who have taken our places and I feel sorry for them.”

After turning, Gatian propped his ass on the windowsill. “Our husbands will not get tangled up in whatever is happening here. Yet I feel obligated to help Lam find his way in this world. He did as much as he could to ease our tenure as Horsemen. I would think, as mortals, we aren’t constrained by rules anymore.”

His friend looked up. “Only if we’d like to go to heaven when we die,” he pointed out.

“There’s a small part of me that says heaven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, if they truly banished Lam for loving someone.”

Aldo didn’t reply. Gatian watched Aldo close several of the wounds then stand. He tossed the bloody gauze and gloves into a plastic bag before he went into the adjoining bathroom. Gatian heard the water run and shut off. He frowned as his friend joined him. Aldo dried his hands while staring out of the window like Gatian had done earlier.

“I’m not sure it was loving someone that got him banished. It was who he chose to love.”

Gatian admitted Aldo had a point. He studied the silent former angel on the bed before sighing. “I should get one of the maids up here to sit with him. Maybe we should call Ekundayo and Kibwe. I know they haven’t left Paris yet.”

Aldo wandered over to his bag and pulled out a pad. “I’ll write out some prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers. The sedative and blood loss will ensure he sleeps for a while. Can one of your employees go fill these?”

“Yes.” Gatian pulled his cell phone from his pocket then scrolled through the numbers. “Let’s go downstairs.”

He’d call and gather the rest of the former Horsemen. Maybe, together, they could help Lam deal with the tragedy that had befallen him.

* * * *

“Where are you?” Day muttered as he stalked along the faint path. He hated the barren landscape Lam often made them meet in. His lover had explained it was the best place because the others never came there. Only the Horsemen could find their way to this plane.

Lam was late and it wasn’t like him. If he wasn’t going to be able to meet, Lam would always get a message to him. Day kicked a rock out ahead of him. He was starting to get worried.

“What if they figured it out? What if he let something slip or someone saw us together?” Day had a good imagination and could see a lot of different scenarios coming true.

If Lam had been found out, Day feared what would happen to him. Lam’s superiors weren’t known for being forgiving of mistakes, exactly, especially in beings that were supposed to be infallible. Unfortunately, he couldn’t go in search of Lam since he was banned from ever appearing in the heavenly realms again.

“Not like I want to back there. Bunch of self-righteous pricks.” Day came to the edge of the cliff and stared out over the black landscape. So different from where he’d called home before his banishment, yet much more desolate than the environment he lived in now. “I’m sure he isn’t dead. That’s not how they work. They love torturing a person to try to teach a lesson in hive mind. I had different ideas from theirs and they persecuted me. Now I’m pretty sure they probably have done the same with Lam.”

Day growled, fighting the urge to shake his fist in the air like a grumpy old man. It was foolish to rail at angels who didn’t care what happened to him once they threw him out. He drew in a deep breath. It was important that he didn’t lose his temper because his emotions impacted the human realm, which was why he tried to stay as far away from mortals as he could.

“If they’ve hurt you, I’ll lay siege to the gates then drag their asses before the Judge and they can see the truth about their hatefulness,” he promised the silence surrounding him. “They think the war I started before was devastating. Just wait. They haven’t seen how terrible I can be.”

He clenched his hands and crouched, breathing the heavy air into his lungs. There was nothing—and no one—who could stay his wrath for the angels Lam had called brothers, if Lam was dead.

Chapter Three

Lam heard voices as he forced himself to claw his way from the darkness. He tried to figure out where he was, but while the voices sounded familiar, he couldn’t place any of them. He grunted when he shifted and every atom in his body protested.

“He’s awake,” one of the voices said, and he heard footsteps come closer. “Open your eyes, Lam. I have some pills for you to take then you can go back to sleep if you want.”

“Where…?” he tried to say, but his dry throat prevented him from getting or any more words out. A cough hit him and he tensed when moving proved to be impossible.

“Gatian, help me roll him over and get him sitting up. There will be pain, but the pillows will ease some of it. He can’t drink or eat while on his stomach.” The same voice took on an authoritative tone. “Open your eyes, Lam.”

He groaned as two sets of hands took a hold of him then slowly rolled him over to sit up. Gritting his teeth, he leaned back on the pillows someone had stuffed behind him. It took a lot of effort to pry his eyelids up, but he managed to do it. There were two men staring at him. One of them used to be Death, of the Four Horsemen fame, but Lam remembered his name was Gatian now. The other one looked familiar, but Lam couldn’t place him.

“Where am I?” he asked, but couldn’t say anything else as Gatian pressed a straw to his lips.

“Take a sip to wet your mouth then we’ll give you the pills.” The stranger showed him the two white pills in his hand.

Lam gestured toward him and Gatian laughed.

“Of course you don’t remember him. He used to be Pestilence and was the first of my group to become human again. He goes by Aldo now, and is a physician in Italy.”

He blinked at the information.
I must know this man.

“You’ve been subjected to some terrible trauma, Lam. I’m not surprised you don’t remember much of anything. Your body’s trying to adjust and your brain’s buried your memories to help the healing process.” Aldo touched Lam’s arm gently. “You’re going to have to take it easy for a while, until the wounds on your back close. I’m sorry, but there will be scarring. Some of them were too jagged for me to be able to close them properly.”

Tilting his head, Lam studied Aldo while he tried to organize his thoughts. “Why am I injured? What happened?”

Aldo shrugged, and Gatian grimaced before saying, “To be honest, we can only guess at what happened, Lam. Do you want me to tell you or do you want to wait until you’re feeling better?”

“I’m not ever going to feel better,” Lam muttered, starting to get an idea of what was going on. He closed his eyes and sighed. “I was an idiot to trust them.”

“Trust who? I’m not sure about that, but I do think you were stupid to hang around Daystar. He’s had a target on his back since he started the war in the angelic realm.” Gatian held up his hand to keep Lam from talking. “I do think that, but we can’t help who we love and you’ve always been different from the other angels I’ve dealt with.”

Lam searched the corners of the room for a second then asked, “Where am I?”

“I found you on my balcony. I wonder why you appeared here. Was that your choice?” Gatian rubbed his chin as he contemplated what it meant.

Shrugging was an exercise in agony, so Lam chose not to move at all. “I have no idea. The last thing I remember was hearing Gabriel call me weak then everything went black. They took my wings, didn’t they?”